NSC 7
March 18
Expansion complete at Billington’s processing facility
Following on from Billington Holdings
acquisition of the Shafton Steel site in
2015, the facility has undergone a major
expansion with the installation of new
FICEP Endeavour and Gemini machines, as
well as a new welding line.
Shafton’s Sales Manager Mike Bawden
says the ongoing plan is to further develop
the site into one of the UK’s premier steel
processing companies.
“Our aim is to offer a fully comprehensive
steel cutting and processing service from
our site near Barnsley.
“The new FICEP Endeavour provides
additional processing options from those
previously offered. Capable of cutting,
drilling, tapping, countersinking, milling,
notching and scribe marking in structural
sections up to 1,100mm-deep.”
The machine is said to have a
sophisticated combination of probing,
clamping and laser devices that allows
precise measuring of beam length and
width, as well as flanges and web height.
The Endeavour operates on three
direct drive independent drilling heads
with maximum power on each spindle.
The three high-tech spindles can operate
simultaneously on both flanges and the web.
Capable of processing parent plates up to
12,000mm × 3,100mm, the FICEP Gemini
machine has allowed the company to offer
large area, fully processed components.
The Gemini has both oxy/gas cutting up
to 80mm thick and hi-def plasma cutting
up to 40mm to give complete flexibility in
processing plates.
According to the latest regional Deloitte
Crane Surveys, cities such as Manchester
and Birmingham are witnessing a
construction boom with residential and
commercial schemes accounting for the
majority of project starts.
Deloitte’s Manchester Survey shows
significant growth for a second year in the
city with 20 major residential projects and
six major office schemes starting in 2017.
Sustained strong growth means
Manchester is enjoying a 60% jump
in residential and a 75% hike in office
projects now under construction.
Deloitte also reported strong growth in
Birmingham and Leeds where developers’
confidence for city centre residential
development remains strong.
Several significant Manchester schemes
are likely to commence in 2018 including
major residential developments as part
of the St. John’s master plan, residential
blocks at Circle Square, further activity
from Manchester Life Development
Company in Ancoats and New Islington,
and work on Angel Meadow which forms
part of the Northern Gateway project.
Birmingham saw 24 major construction
starts last year. This was again driven by
the boom in city residential developments,
up nearly a third to 13 schemes delivering
2,500 new units in 2018 alone.
In Leeds, residential construction
across the city centre hit its highest level
in a decade – 1,586 units across five
development sites.
Leeds continues to deliver good
volumes of new office space with three
new construction starts in 2017, including
another steel-framed office block at the
Wellington Place development.
Working on behalf of main contractor ISG,
EvadX has completed the steel erection for
the Rhyl water park.
Housed within a double wedged-shaped
structure, topped with a wave-like roof, the
contract will deliver a 1,200m2 leisure pool
with flumes, slides and water play features,
an adventure area containing a multi-level
adventure area, a changing village and a
café and bar area.
One large steel frame houses the entire
facility with a line of columns and a
partition wall running down the middle,
separating the wet zone (aquatics area)
from the dry area.
Each of these zones is housed within
a large column-free hall topped with a
wave-like roof, with each one sloping in the
opposite direction to the other.
As well as being a nod to the water
park’s location, the wave-like roofs and,
in particular, the wedge-shapes have been
chosen for their efficiency.
According to the project architect, Space
& Place, the two wedge shapes provide
optimum volumetric arrangements
offering better views through to the
seafront, reducing the overall visual
mass of the building and creating a more
interesting architectural form.
Alliance Leisure Senior Business
Development Manager Julia Goddard said:
“The development in Rhyl will completely
transform the town’s leisure provision,
creating a stand-out attraction which will
draw an estimated 35,000 extra visitors to
the area each year.
“Creating sustainable leisure facilities
which inspire community engagement
is always our ambition and this latest
development project will certainly achieve
this.”
News
NEWS
IN BRIEF
Severfield has announced that
Chief Executive Ian Lawson is
leaving the firm after standing
down due to illness last year.
Alan Dunsmore becomes Chief
Executive Officer and Adam
Semple Finance Director, both
on a permanent basis, having
held those roles on an interim
basis since last March, while
Ian Cochrane remains Chief
Operating Officer.
BHC has been appointed by
Laing O’Rourke as the structural
steelwork contractor for its
extensive redevelopment of the
Edinburgh St James Centre. The
company will be responsible
for the supply, fabrication and
erection of approximately 15,000t
of structural steelwork over a
period of two years.
Kloeckner Metals UK/Westok
has upgraded its cellular beam
design software package.
Cellbeam version 10.3.1 is said to
include enhanced calculation of
the critical in-plane buckling load
Ncr, a refined composite design
to NEN-EN 1993/1994 as well
as improved graphics and user
interface.
The Royal College of Art’s (RCA)
Battersea campus has been given
the go-ahead for its Herzog &
de Meuron designed £108M
extension. The 15,800m² building
for postgraduate students and
‘entrepreneurs’ at the RCA’s
Battersea South campus will
replace the institution’s sculpture
building and moving-image
studio at the corner of Howie
Street and Elcho Street.
Developer St Modwen has
announced that it will be
increasing its commercial
construction programme over the
coming months as its focuses on
work outside of London. The firm
has published its annual results
for the year ending November
2017, the highlight of which is a
trading profit of £64M, up from
£56M for the previous year.
Developer Landsec has secured
a resolution to grant a revised
planning permission for its
proposed 52,300m2 steel-framed
development at 21 Moorfields,
in the City of London. Last year,
Landsec and Deutsche Bank
exchanged a pre-let agreement
for the bank’s new London
headquarters on a 25-year lease,
conditional on achieving revised
planning consent.
Regional cities lead construction boom
Steel up for North Wales water park
No 1 Spinningfields
is one of the
prestigious
commercial
developments to
have completed in
Manchester last year
/Welding
/Fabrication#Fabrication_processes
/Fabrication#Fabrication_processes
/Steel_construction_products#Standard_open_sections
/Steel_construction_products#Standard_open_sections
/Steel_construction_products#Flat_products_-_plates
/Fabrication#Plasma_cutting
/Construction
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings
/Braced_frames
/3_Wellington_Place,_Leeds
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Braced_frames
/Leisure_buildings#Ability_to_span_long_distances
/Leisure_buildings
/Fabrication
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Steel_construction_products#Cellular_beams
/Composite_construction
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Braced_frames